The Second of Kings

19 As soon as King Hez·e·kiʹah heard this, he ripped his garments apart and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of Jehovah.+2 Then he sent E·liʹa·kim, who was in charge of the household,* Shebʹnah the secretary, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah,+ the son of Aʹmoz. 3 They said to him: “This is what Hez·e·kiʹah says, ‘This day is a day of distress, of rebuke,* and of disgrace; for the children are ready to be born,* but there is no strength to give birth.+4 Perhaps Jehovah your God will hear all the words of the Rabʹsha·keh, whom the king of As·syrʹi·a his lord sent to taunt the living God,+ and he will call him to account for the words that Jehovah your God has heard. So offer up a prayer+ in behalf of the remnant who have survived.’”

5 So the servants of King Hez·e·kiʹah went in to Isaiah,+6 and Isaiah said to them: “This is what you should say to your lord, ‘This is what Jehovah says: “Do not be afraid+ because of the words that you heard, the words with which the attendants of the king of As·syrʹi·a blasphemed me.+7 Here I am putting a thought in his mind,* and he will hear a report and return to his own land; and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.”’”+

8 After the Rabʹsha·keh heard that the king of As·syrʹi·a had pulled away from Laʹchish,+ he returned to him and found him fighting against Libʹnah.+9 Now the king heard it said about King Tir·haʹkah of E·thi·oʹpi·a: “Here he has come out to fight against you.” So he sent messengers+ again to Hez·e·kiʹah, saying: 10 “This is what you should say to King Hez·e·kiʹah of Judah, ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by saying: “Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of As·syrʹi·a.”+11 Look! You have heard what the kings of As·syrʹi·a did to all the lands by devoting them to destruction.+ Will you alone be rescued? 12 Did the gods of the nations that my forefathers destroyed rescue them? Where are Goʹzan, Haʹran,+ Reʹzeph, and the people of Eʹden who were in Tel-asʹsar? 13 Where is the king of Haʹmath, the king of Arʹpad, and the king of the cities of Seph·ar·vaʹim, and of Heʹna, and of Ivʹvah?’”+

14 Hez·e·kiʹah took the letters out of the hand of the messengers and read them. Hez·e·kiʹah then went up to the house of Jehovah and spread them* out before Jehovah.+15 And Hez·e·kiʹah began to pray+ before Jehovah and say: “O Jehovah the God of Israel, sitting enthroned above* the cherubs,+ you alone are the true God of all the kingdoms of the earth.+ You made the heavens and the earth. 16 Incline your ear, O Jehovah, and hear!+ Open your eyes,+ O Jehovah, and see! Hear the words that Sen·nachʹer·ib has sent to taunt the living God. 17 It is a fact, O Jehovah, that the kings of As·syrʹi·a have devastated the nations and their lands.+18 And they have thrown their gods into the fire, because they were not gods+ but the work of human hands,+ wood and stone. That is why they could destroy them. 19 But now, O Jehovah our God, please save us out of his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are God, O Jehovah.”+

20 Isaiah son of Aʹmoz then sent this message to Hez·e·kiʹah: “This is what Jehovah the God of Israel says, ‘I have heard your prayer+ to me concerning King Sen·nachʹer·ib of As·syrʹi·a.+21 This is the word that Jehovah has spoken against him:

29 “‘And this will be the sign for you:* This year you will eat what grows on its own;* and in the second year you will eat grain that sprouts from that;+ but in the third year you will sow seed and reap, and you will plant vineyards and eat their fruitage.+30 Those of the house of Judah who escape, those who are left,+ will take root downward and produce fruit upward. 31 For a remnant will go out of Jerusalem and survivors from Mount Zion. The zeal of Jehovah of armies will do this.+

32 “‘Therefore this is what Jehovah says about the king of As·syrʹi·a:+

35 On that very night the angel of Jehovah went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the As·syrʹi·ans.+ When people rose up early in the morning, they saw all the dead bodies.+36 So King Sen·nachʹer·ib of As·syrʹi·a departed and returned to Ninʹe·veh+ and stayed there.+37 And as he was bowing down at the house* of his god Nisʹroch, his own sons A·dramʹme·lech and Shar·eʹzer struck him down with the sword+ and then escaped to the land of Arʹa·rat.+ And his son Eʹsar-hadʹdon+ became king in his place.